Beer, bratwurst, tunes among the fun

Caleb Callicutt, 3, of Germantown helps make a scarecrow at the Germantown Oktoberfest on Saturday.

Elke Boehm of Washington, D.C., had an urge to wear a dirndl since she arrived in the United States from her native Munich, Germany a little more than a year ago.

At Saturday's 27th annual Germantown Oktoberfest, Boehm not only wore the dress, she won the festival's Heidi lookalike contest. No adult men participated in the Hans lookalike contest.

"It was really awesome," said Boehm, 20. "The Oktoberfest is the only place I could wear this."

The brother and sister team of Beth, 10, and Rob Staskol, 6, of Germantown won the children's category.

Several of the thousands of people who attended the festival at Ridge Road Recreational Park joined Boehm in donning traditional German attire. Live music from Alte Kameraden German Band bellowed from the main stage. On the opposite side of the park, joyful yells of children playing games drowned the music out.

Children painted pumpkins and got their faces painted while adults enjoyed bratwurst, a German band and beer.

The festival was "an absolute success," said Marilyn Balcombe, festival chairwoman and president and CEO of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce. More than $4,000 was raised from beer sales, $150 from the paint a pumpkin booth and another $300 from scarecrow making. Ticket sales from the children's games brought in another $3,000, she said.

Terrance Ferrell and his son, Michael, 3, both of Germantown, painted a pumpkin together.

Ferrell guided his son's hand as he painted red and blue stripes.

"He's having a great time," Ferrell said. "This is a good way to spend time with your family and it helps that the weather held up."

Margaret Welsch, 54, of Rockville, said she brought her grandson, Jeremy, 2, to the festival "to give him a chance to run around and have fun." She wanted to him to paint a pumpkin, but "he's afraid of the faces painted on some of them.

"I don't want him having nightmares over a pumpkin," Welsch laughed. "He's pretty content with his little balloon and Italian ice."

Hundreds of people made their way to the beer tent.

"I think we ordered 19 kegs of beer for Oktoberfest," said Sarah Knetzer of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Jaycees. More than $400 from beer sales will go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, she said.

Justin Gates, 17, of Germantown, said he has enjoyed the festival since he was younger.

Hanging out with his friends and eating funnel cake "keep me coming back," he said.